The science may still be uncertain but the Omicron variant has definitively intruded upon recent stock market euphoria.The designation as a variant of concern last week, and then further comments from vaccine makers that existing vaccines will not be as effective, has caused widespread and significant falls in share prices.So what will the economic effect be?
A new US$6 billion Chinese-built railway line opens in Lao this week, bringing hopes of an economic boost to the reclusive nation, but experts are questioning the benefits of a project that has seen thousands of farmers evicted from their land.The 414-kilometre route, due to open on 3 December, took five years to construct under China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which funds infrastructure projects aimed at increasing Beijing's clout globally.Struggling strawber
In early 2021, the consensus forecast for Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year among 25 major global banks and other professional forecasters was 8.3 percent. In contrast, the Chinese government’s own growth target was around six percent, lower than the best guesses of 24 out of the 25 institutional forecasters. Did the government know something that outsiders had missed?
Leaders of the world's most advanced nations met Saturday at the G20 summit in Rome hoping to hammer out a way forward on climate change and vaccine equality, with consensus still outstanding on the most pressing global issues. In their first in-person gathering since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relaunch of the global economy will also be front and centre on the two-day agenda, while the bloc is likely to approve a minimum tax rate for the biggest multinationals.But
Bad news travels. Good news doesn’t. When Afghanistan’s government collapsed recently, the whole world watched. But when Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, produces the world’s most effective democratically elected leader today – President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi – almost no one outside the archipelago knows the story. That story is all the more remarkable because Jokowi has succeeded in one of the world’s most difficult countries to govern.
The Philippines' election season kicked off Friday with TV celebrities, political scions and at least one inmate expected to be among thousands of candidates vying for posts from president to town councillor.A week-long registration process launches a typically noisy and deadly seven months of campaigning for more than 18,000 positions – but the raging pandemic and economic misery caused by COVID lockdowns could dampen the party atmosphere.A successor to President Rodrigo Duterte, who is
The Philippine economy will take more than a decade to return to pre-pandemic growth, an official said Thursday, warning the next two generations of Filipinos would be paying for the cost of COVID-19.
Within the span of a generation, a new super-rich class emerges from a society in which millions of rural migrants toiled away in factories for a pittance. Bribery becomes the most common mode of influence in politics. Opportunists speculate recklessly in land and real estate. Financial risks simmer as local governments borrow to finance railways and other large infrastructure projects.
The Philippines will ease coronavirus restrictions in the capital Manila to spur economic activity, officials said Tuesday, despite record infection numbers and a warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) against the move.Restaurants, churches and beauty salons in the national capital region will open at lower capacities from Thursday to get tens of thousands more people back to work."We should strive for total health and this can only be realised by carefully balancing our COVID-
The Philippines will lift a stay-at-home order in the capital Manila this week as it trials "granular lockdowns", an official said Monday, in a bid to rein in coronavirus cases and revive the economy.More than 13 million people in the national capital region – the country's economic heartland – have been in lockdown since 6 August amid record infections fuelled by the hyper-contagious Delta variant.The move to ease restrictions from Wednesday comes after nationwide daily cases
As recently as three months ago, the global economy seemed to be on track for a relatively robust recovery. The supply of COVID-19 vaccines had expanded in the developed countries, raising hopes that it would spill over to developing countries in the second half of 2021 and into 2022.
Malaysia's new prime minister called on his colleagues Sunday to end a months-long political crisis and come together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, in his first speech as the country's fourth premier in as many years.Just days after the previous government collapsed in a storm of political infighting, Ismail Sabri Yaakob urged lawmakers to unite to help the country recover from the pandemic."The political crisis that has hit the country is causing unrest among the people,&quo
